Espionage thriller series 'Panthers' to be Ronnie Screwvala's new foray

Celebrated film producer Ronnie Screwvala is gearing up to produce his first web series -- Panthers -- a multi-season series espionage thriller.

The show will be produced by Screwvala's RSVP production company and co-produced by Blue Monkey.

Directed and run by Rensil D'Silva, the series stays raw and rooted in the Indo-Pak spy games of the late 60s and early 70s.

The 45 minute-episode follows the exploits of RA&W heroes of the bygone era as they follow clues, nab their targets, gather information and link together the pieces of the puzzle.

A major highlight of the series is the recreation of a purported conspiracy masterminded by the ISI to hijack an Indian Airlines plane piloted by Rajiv Gandhi in the early 1970s. The incident was recently mentioned in a book by a former RAW agent, who said that RAW was able to neutralise the threat.

Ronnie Screwvala said, "Panthers is the story of India's burgeoning spy agency against a politically volatile setting. It is as eye opening as it is gripping and boasts of the right balance of realism and entertainment, making it the perfect project for us at RSVP to get behind. Rensil is the right man at the helm of this one."

Rensil added, "The nation is embracing true stories like never before. All the covert operations mentioned in Panthers have taken place in real life. This series is a tribute to the daring feats of the RAW agency before it ascended to legendary status."

Producer Premnath Rajagopalan of Blue Monkey said, "When Mukesh Radha brought us this project we were excited to collaborate with him and take it forward as this is a story that would make all us Indians proud. We at Blue Monkey Films are excited to further our association with Ronnie and RSVP as they have long been associated with clutter-breaking and riveting content."

'Panthers' goes on floors in the first quarter of 2022.